The Toronto Blue Jays got off to a slow start this season, but they are starting to play much better lately. At 26-29, they are now just one game back of the Minnesota Twins for the final American League wild card spot.
Their pitching staff has been hit hard by injuries this year, so if they are in the mix at the trade deadline, it certainly wouldn’t hurt them to potentially add an arm.
The Detroit Tigers may be forced to trade Tarik Skubal as they continue to slide out of postseason contention. Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report cooked up a few ideas for Skubal trades, one of which had the Blue Jays sending prospects JoJo Parker and Johnny King to the Tigers in exchange for the two-time reigning AL Cy Young award winner.
“Whereas the Braves truly need another top-of-the-rotation starter, the Blue Jays don’t so much need another one of those as they need depth,” Rymer wrote.
“Dylan Cease won’t be out for long, but such optimism is hard to apply to José Berríos, Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer. Berríos is done for the year, while Bieber and Scherzer are trying to get over bothersome arm issues.
“Getting Skubal to shore things up would be overkill, but that’s the point. Putting him in front of Cease, Kevin Gausman and Trey Yesavage would give Toronto a rotation that could point the way back to the World Series in October.”
Blue Jays Trade Pitch Sends 2 Prospects to Tigers
The Blue Jays still have Trey Yesavage as their top prospect, but Rymer notes that the chances of Detroit landing him in exchange are slim to none.
The Tigers are going to want a lot in return, potentially more than what Rymer is proposing here. Skubal is in the final year of his contract, and the chances of Detroit re-signing him are low. The Blue Jays certainly have bigger pocketbooks than the Tigers, so they could at least have a chance to re-sign him.
It is always possible too that Skubal’s recent injury may hurt his value a little bit. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Tigers are going to lower their asking price, so it could still take a lot to land him.
But the Blue Jays need some help on the pitching side if they want to snatch one of the wild card spots or get back into the race in the American League East. They are currently 9 1/2 games back of first place in that race.
How It Could Affect Blue Jays
This could give the Blue Jays a major advantage and allow them to make up a lot of ground in the AL East. This could play well for them in the postseason too should they get there. They were just two outs away from securing a World Series title last October, and a rotation that features, Skubal, Cease, Scherzer, Bieber and Kevin Gausman could be very dangerous in a playoff series.
We’ll see if the Blue Jays actually try to make this happen.
Blue Jays Trade Pitch Sends 2 Top Prospects to Tigers for Tarik Skubal